Speech [Necessity to defend the country in the face of the enemy]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I thank the brothers for having come here so that I can meet with you from close. The toils and troubles of you brothers and the Komiteh are praiseworthy. At a time when it was the start of the Revolution and victory of the Revolution, and as is natural in all revolutions, there is chaos and insecurity, thank God, you were able to restore calm in the cities and control the security situation of the cities. From then until now also, with your fellow Guards Corps and your army brothers, all were at the service of Islam and your beloved country. This matter is recorded with the Blessed and Almighty God. I am optimistic that this matter will perpetuate and your names will be recorded at the Court of the Blessed and Almighty God with the names of those persons who at the dawn of Islam served for the victory of Islam.

What is evident and which you all know is that today we are defending; let whatever the foreign propaganda say against us. But you know that at present some of our cities and some of our territories are in the hands of the enemy while our border towns are shelled everyday by the long-range artillery and missiles of the enemy. It is obligatory for all of us to defend our country; and to defend is to push back the enemy to where their missiles cannot reach our cities. Entering the territory of Iraq is not invasion of Iraq; rather it is defending Islam and the Muslim country. It is like a person standing outside your house and throwing stones at you from inside his own house causing damage to life and property. If you enter his home you have not trespassed it; you want to defend yourself. We never intend to invade any country. We intend to defend ourselves from an invader and an attacker and an ungodly force that when it cannot invade and do anything, it resorts to long-range artillery shelling and launching missiles from outside and far off places thereby bringing ruin to our country and killing our beloved. We are in a defensive positional though the foreign propaganda machinery claims that we have entered the territory of another. From the start of the war until now when they were on our soil, there was no talk, there was no problem in neither the organizations nor in the mass media. Today, that we in self-defense want to push it back to where it cannot inflict damages on us we have attacked Iraq! This is the nature of those that engage in propaganda against Islam. Therefore, because we are defenders, it is mandatory on all of us except that every person must defend in one way or the other.

Thank God, the Komitehs are defending within the country and are also present at the borders and are also present at the frontlines. The same with the Guards Corps, the same with the military, and this is because we do not have an army that is distinct from the Guards Corps and guards Corps that is distinct from the Komitehs and a Komiteh that is distinct from the Basij volunteers and all of them being distinct from the tribal fighters. We are brothers with different names but whose soul is one. We are several brothers with different names; the names are distinct but they are not different groups and are brothers. our groups have various names such as Basij, Guards Corps, army, Komiteh and so forth, but their spirit is one. They have ideological unity, they have unity of religion and this has resulted in you being able to smash so many of the big powers and to resist vis-a-vis all the powers of the world. Until this spirit of unity is present, and the Komiteh does not regard itself in confrontation with the military and the military in confrontation with the Guards Corps and the Guards Corps opposite the rest; as long as this spirit is safeguarded, you too are safe. I am optimistic that this spirit of unity; this spirit of humanity shall God willing, be safeguarded in our society so that it remains immune from the harm that they are preparing for it in the future. We shall stand in defense of our country and in defense of the beloved Islam in the face of every invader be it a superpower or be it a lesser power- it makes no difference to us. For us it is compulsory to defend the honor of Islam and our own honor and defend our own Islamic country. As long as we are defending, we shall confront with every power that wants to attack us and we have no fear. The ultimate objective is that we shall be martyred in the path of God and this is the aspiration of our youth. I hope that this power is safeguarded and you advance with this same power and strength. Because we are in a defensive position, as long as the warfronts require assistance, it is compulsory upon all to go to the frontlines and defend. However, the Komitehs that also have internal tasks are defending as well. Internal defense is also important and in the same way that those that are in Kurdestan and are toiling there; in the same way that those that are on the frontlines of the West and the South, those that are toiling in Kurdestan are also earning the gratitude of all the nation. Considering that, we are a united nation, a united populace, thus all of us prays for those that are working hard for this country and are sacrificing their lives for this nation and are sacrificing for Islam and the entire nation is grateful to all of you.

You are witnessing that opposite you the beloved youth of the entire nation; throughout the country, the growing youth throughout the country are confronted with all kinds of enemies. There are enemies engaging in military operations; there are enemies engaging in propaganda. You are now seeing that this crude oil that has spilled in the gulf, put our brothers in the gulf in trouble, and is causing inconvenience to the `Arab nation that are now in trouble; once again you will notice that all the foreign propaganda is against us. It is like saying why you have crude oil so that Saddam should come and bombard it and spill your crude; it is your fault that you have oil; it is your fault that your people are living in Khouzestan. It is not Saddam's fault to kill them; it is their fault for being there and for being killed. This is how they are; they will not say a word to Saddam that why he has done this; why he has done this to the crude oil notwithstanding that thank God, we are not in need of this small quantity. What we are saying is that well these `Arab brothers that are bordering the gulf- right from Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Dubai and so forth- they are now faced with water shortage, they will not ask why he has done this; these governments will not ask why Saddam has done this. Instead, they will say that the oil from Iran has come here! Iran's crude oil has on its own flowed and reached there! The situation of the world is an unfortunate one and one cannot say how this has come about, how it is that the people of the world have such a moral outlook. The people that are controlling the mass media and those that are powerful getting together to decide what to do. Well, what is to be done? Should they do as Saddam gives them the permission! A single person that has committed so many crimes until now yet you have not said a word that he has committed these crimes against us. Our fault is that we say that Islam must be present. However, the recent crime that he has committed and he has committed it against the `Arabs- he has committed it against us- the crime against us is that we our crude oil has been spilled and lost; but what about the wretched `Arab women and children; what have they done? What have the women and children of the gulf countries done while this crime has been inflicted upon them? Now also that they have gathered, they are unable to guarantee that he will not attack so that they can go and repair this area. This is an astonishing situation in this world. May God reform humankind and the situation that we are in now and the moral outlook that humankind has taken on itself.

This self-defeatism that the governments bordering the gulf and beyond the gulf are showing in relation to the big powers, do they think that if Saddam lays his hands on one of them he will allow them to be in power? Saddam has a moral outlook that no one can control him. If he could control himself, he would not have been in this situation- and yet they help him. They think that if they have a problem, America will come forward and stop him lest he should harm them. America wants you because of your oil. America wants you because it wants to create a market to take away your oil and sell junk to you in return at exorbitant prices. Why should America care for your situation. Whatever situation you are in; however hungry your nations; however thirsty your nations are now, why should it be bothered with these things. It wants to use you; not the benefit that one person derives from another or the benefit that a person derives form a slave; rather a benefit that they regard as being inferior to animals and want to exploit us.

You will not be able to resist in the face of these powers unless you join hands and unless you safeguard Islamic unity. They will suck you dry and make your nation miserable, weak and helpless and yet all of you are sitting back and waiting for America to do the job for you in the same way that we are sitting in wait for America to do something for us. We are sitting and waiting for America to commit a mischief so that we can prevent it; we are sitting and waiting to see that if the Soviet Union wants to do something, we should prevent it and defend ourselves. We are not waiting for America to do something for us. We shall crush America in these matters; we will not allow it to interfere in our affairs; we will not allow any one else to interfere in our affairs. Should they want to attack, we will prevent their aircraft from landing and will kill their paratroopers in midair; we will destroy them. Do you think they can attack us? However, they are never so stupid to want to attack; rather they are pursuing a plan to sow discord among us.

I have repeatedly said this and shall repeatedly say this to you if I am alive which is that as long as you are united whereby the man in the Komiteh does not say that since he is a Komiteh man, he should be such and such, rather the man in the Komiteh says how we Muslims must be. The military man does not say that being a military man, he should do this job; he too says that we the armed forces must be in that fashion and our nation must be such. So also, the Guards Corps says the same thing, so also the tribal warriors, so also the bazaar tradesman and so the average person says the same thing. As long as you are like this, no power can defeat you. It cannot be done because these great powers are looking to secure their interests. They are not looking to inflict a loss; they want to make a profit even at the cost of destroying the world. This is good. However, they find a country like this that has no benefit for them. Despite all their powers, they found they had been losers in Afghanistan. From the initial days when their ambassador came to me and said that the Afghanistan government had asked for their assistance, I told them not to do such a thing as they would lose and now they have understood that they had suffered loss. They know that it is not possible to attack a country in such a situation; there is no benefit to be derived here; it is all losses. However, they are attempting to sow discord among you; they are attempting to create differences. In one area, they would say there is a shortage and a bunch to follow them and chant slogans that we are facing shortages. They think that in other places there is abundance. Sir, in other places the queues are longer than here. Here there are no scarcities; there is aplenty except that the prices are high and high prices can be remedied. Should we put our honor, our Islam, our lives, the lives of our youth in danger because meat is expensive or fruits are expensive! If you want that there be a rift so that one group complains while another group assists them and a third group engages in negative publicity so that there is discord among the nation itself and especially between the Guards Corps and the army and the Komiteh and so forth, then God forbid, the unity that exists shall be destroyed. The day when this unity is destroyed is the day of the death of all of us and is the day of the destruction of our honor and the destruction of all the hard work of the Prophets- peace be upon them- in relation to this our country and in relation to other countries. All their efforts shall be thrown to the wind of destruction.

You must know and the individuals that are intellectuals must know; individuals that are sitting on the sidelines and shouting abuses; persons that are sitting abroad and who pay no attention to local issues must know that if today Islam is dealt a slap on the face in this country, then nations must until the end bear these pressures. Today, Islam has raised its head here and has hoisted its banner and I hope that this manifestation reaches to all places so that the oppressed are liberated from under the yoke of these injustices. Those that complain of this country and think that they are being sympathetic to Islam, must know that if this Islam that is present here is dealt a slap on the face, then Islam has been dealt a slap until the end and you must sit back again and again and regret it. Again, it shall return to where a police officer comes and destroys all of you and insults all of you and you do not dare to speak out. Do you recall the era of Rida Shah; you recall the beginning of the reign of Muhammad-Rida also; of course, lately, he did not have the power. Until you do not join hands and till all of you do not unite, until those that do not attain welfare think that this is welfare. God knows those that are now suffering; the Minister of Interior who is sitting here also has problems; not that he has welfare; he too is poor. The same is with the president; the same with the parliamentarians and the same is with its government, its police, its armed forces are also the same; they are sacrificing their lives for their country and they must be maintained. One must not complain; one must uphold them for God's sake; for the sake of your own honor; for the sake of your own country. If you sympathize with your country, you must strive hard. By sitting back and complaining that our country is being destroyed, you are simply engaging in propaganda. With your propaganda, you want to destroy your country; otherwise can we by entering into a pact with Saddam protect our country? Will forcing the foreign governments to do such and such thing here protect this country? Well, come to your senses and pay attention to issues. I hope that whoever wants to do something- you our youth, this nation of ours, this beloved nation of ours- will continue to be brothers in the same manner that they have been until now and remain united in the same way that they have been, without involving in arguments, so that God willing, this country is safeguarded and nobody can harm you. May God protect all of you and you prosper and be successful and continue with your job and advance with strength so that God willing, you propagate Islam in other places. God protect all of you and grant you success.

May God's peace and mercy be upon you.